Brian G Burns

Brian G Burns has worked in publishing and communications for more than 20 years. One Night, Two Liars is his first published work of fiction. He was born and brought up in Northern Ireland and lives in London. The weird and the strange are his wine and bread.

He is currently working on his second novel, an adult fantasy/fairy tale, drawing on traditional fairy tale and mythology, and the work of Carl Gustav Jung. At this point it is probably best described as a book about Jung, magic, monsters, murder and mayhem. It will be light and dark, strange and familiar, tender and warm, unnerving and sometimes terrifying. It should be finished by the end of 2016/start of 2017.

One Night, Two Liars

Literary/psychological fiction

Confused and angry, hungover and a little bloodied, a man calling himself Bill stumbles into a second-hand shop, strangely drawn by an old trunk. Inside, he meets enigmatic shop-owner Jack, who, after some resistance from Bill, plies him with a powerful mind-altering drink.

Over the course of a long night, fuelled by the psychedelic drink, the two strangers swap stories. Bill tells of failed relationships, an abusive father and petty crime, before revealing a dark secret. Jack tells the tale of a young man he once knew called Jon – troubled, filled with rage and desperate for a new life.

As their shared trip continues, names, places and memories overlap, and each story reaches its disturbing conclusion. But what is to be believed and what not, in a multilayered narrative that blurs the boundaries of altered perceptions, psychosis and a possible alternate reality?​